Entrepreneurs

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Most people are motivated more by the work they do and the environment in which they work than by the money they earn. Therefore, the compensation and reward systems you offer to employees should include both monetary and non-monetary ideas.

For aspiring and active entrepreneurs, financing growth isn't always a matter of taking readily available funding. In this article, Jeff Gordon, who founded two companies in the decade since graduating from college, says the entrepreneur really seeks the best "engine" for fueling growth, which isn't necessarily money. He offers tips for choosing from an array of monetary and nonmonetary options.

Venture capitalists aren't the vultures they're said to be. They're just investors, and the key to dealing with investors is having a relationship, according to this witty exchange between the author and her construct, the Everyman-entrepreneur, who discuss financing at a typical gathering for entrepreneurs.

In today's extremely tight labor market, small-company employers must approach hiring just as they approach selling. To lure able and enthusiastic candidates, the author writes, a CEO should consider such steps as contacting reluctant candidates personally, offering equity compensation to augment salaries, and sending welcoming gifts like fruit baskets. Of particular note is a discussion of factors the author says "count" in the sales-whoops!-the hiring process.

If you think hiring is tough in today's tight labor market, you should figure that retaining people is even tougher. To keep employees, small-company owners must provide more than just competitive compensation packages, the author writes. What really makes the difference is a CEO's ability to communicate an organizational vision and to recognize the people who translate that vision into revenue and profit.

Niche companies needn't be intimidated by their large corporate competitors because even the biggest companies must be adept at marketing differently to discreet audiences, writes the author, who founded the country's leading black-owned media concern. The solution is to stick to your specialty, maintain excitement with new ideas, and commit resources to expanding the brand.

Earl Graves, the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine, offers statistical evidence and his own business experience to explain businesses lose out when they dismiss the fact that the African-American consumer is most interested in a product or service's business value, not it's perceived social value. The incorrect assumptions about the African-American market that many businesses make can be corrected through, as Graves has discovered, with persistence and careful explanations of the overwhelmingly positive qualities of the African-American consumer.

Niche businesses either start with specific offerings for a discreet audience or carve out specialities within a broader base. Either way, entrepreneurs who operate niche companies must understand themselves, their goals, and their customers, in order to deliver marketing campaigns that are simple and effective.

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